When Kina Collins talks about the West Side of Chicago, she’s not talking about a campaign stop. She’s talking about home. Born and raised in the Austin neighborhood, Collins grew up watching her father head to the factory and her mother work as a crossing guard and certified nursing assistant. She saw the block parties and the block funerals. And somewhere between the two, she decided she was going to change things.
Now, after three previous runs for Illinois’ 7th Congressional District, Collins is back on the ballot for the March 17 Democratic primary. With Danny Davis retiring after nearly three decades in the seat, this is the most wide-open race the district has seen since 1996. And Collins, a 30-something grassroots organizer with no corporate donors and a track record of getting closer every cycle, might finally be the one to break through.
Who Is Kina Collins?
Collins is a community organizer, gun violence prevention advocate, and political candidate who has spent the last decade building power from the ground up. She attended Carthage College and Louisiana State University, where she studied international political economy and sociology. But the education that shaped her most happened on the streets of Austin.
As a child, Collins witnessed the murder of someone she knew. That moment stayed with her, becoming the catalyst for a lifetime of work on gun violence, criminal justice reform, and healthcare access. By 2017, she had founded the Chicago Neighborhood Alliance, an organization designed to channel activist energy into civic engagement. She went on to lead the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence as its Executive Director, making her one of the state’s most prominent voices on gun violence prevention.
She also co-authored the Illinois Council on Women and Girls Act in 2018, which created a state advisory council focused on the needs of women and girls. Collins served as its first chairwoman.
Why She’s Running
Collins has been consistent about her priorities from day one: Medicare for All, housing as a human right, fair wages, clean air and water, and an economy that centers people over profit. These aren’t talking points she picked up from a consultant. They come from watching her neighbors struggle with the same issues for decades.
“This campaign is built for the people and by the people,” Collins has said, pointing to her refusal to accept corporate PAC money. In a field of 13 Democratic candidates, that distinction matters. It signals that her accountability runs toward the community, not the donor class.
Her 2022 primary run saw her pull 45.6% of the vote against the incumbent, a result that proved she wasn’t a fringe candidate but a serious contender. Now, with the seat open and no incumbent advantage in play, the math looks different.
Policy That Hits Home
Collins’ platform reads like a checklist of what communities on the West Side and across the 7th District have been asking for: universal healthcare, affordable housing, living wages, and investments in neighborhoods that have been historically underfunded. She’s especially vocal about gun violence prevention, not just as policy but as personal survival.
She also champions voting rights and criminal justice reform, two issues that directly affect the district’s Black and brown residents who have dealt with decades of over-policing and under-investment.
The Culture Connection
There’s a reason Collins resonates with younger voters. She’s not a career politician who discovered grassroots energy after hiring a social media team. She’s an organizer who decided to run for office because the system wasn’t moving fast enough. That energy, the impatience with waiting your turn, the insistence on building something new rather than inheriting something old, is deeply hip-hop in spirit.
Collins represents a generation that grew up watching their communities get talked about but not invested in. Her candidacy is a direct response to that dynamic: stop describing the problem and start being the solution.
How to Follow the Campaign
- Website: kinacollinsil.com
- Primary Election: March 17, 2026
